When Pete Nortman of EnergyCS designed the first commercially available aftermarket Prius plug-in hybrid electric-gas car, the folks at Toyota were interested. According to Nortman, the Toyota engineers spent some quality time reviewing the product. While they were impressed with the work, but it was not a direction that Toyota wanted to take. Or so they said. Eight years later, Toyota has introduced its version of the Prius plug-in hybrid... Full article at: PLUG AND PLAY 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid | LA Car 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
The news releases for the PIP said the Premium model would come with Lane Keep Assist, and some of the prototypes lent to journalists had it. I suspect Toyota pulled it (from the production car) because they wanted to keep the price below $40K. A Prius that stickers for more than 40 would probably raise some eyebrows. I also have a beef with the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control. I love it when adaptive cruise control will let you slow the car down to zero mph in heavy traffic, and then speed it back up to the limit when the traffic eases up. The DRCC on the Prius turns off when the car slows down to around 25 mph, which is a little annoying after trying the system in other cars.
